


Heatwave

by kovenmoonshadow



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Empusa shenanigans, Established Relationship, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Innuendo, M/M, heat sickness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 02:21:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21245906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kovenmoonshadow/pseuds/kovenmoonshadow
Summary: In which Nero concludes fighting demons in 100 degree heat is a bad idea...for various reasons.





	Heatwave

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a while ago, back during those summer months where it was, indeed, in the hundreds and most of my coworkers wanted to die. I forgot to type it up, so here you go.

It was _hot_.

The kind of hot that made you crave death if you stood outside for even five minutes, not moving, with a slowly boiling bottle of water in your hand. It put the Sahara Desert to shame and made the surface of Venus look like a spring getaway.

And, of course, Nero just _had_ to be working a job in it.

At this point in the day, he honestly had no idea if it was better to be roasting alive in the open or slowly melting back in the office. Everyone (save for Trish, who seemed to be immune to it) had agreed on the former.

That was when another issue became apparent; All of Lady’s firearms overheated so quickly they were rendered useless, the same went for Nero’s revolver, and he had no desire to find out what kind of mess he’d cause trying to use Red Queen in this weather.

V and Trish appeared to be the only ones not having technical difficulties, regardless of how much Griffon complained.

And, _of course_, the air conditioning in the RV was broken.

While Nico cussed up a storm outside banging around under the hood, Lady tried her best to tend to her still warm weaponry. V lounged on the sofa fanning himself with his book, the front of his vest undone and hanging open.

Nero was sitting on the step, draining another bottle of water. The sad little electric fan they had put on top of the jukebox did little to relieve the inferno-like temperatures.

At the very least, being out and about kept them busy and not groaning in the office all day while everyone was strewn about the floor and furniture.

“How’s the repair coming?” Nero asked, grabbing a water bottle to bring over to Nico. His mechanic was covered in grease, oil, and sweat, her hair soaked and sticking to her face.

“It’s comin’,” she replied, taking the bottle and draining half of it in one gulp, “I ain’t runnin’ the engine til’ I’m sure it’s not gonna explode.”

“C’mon, you can’t drop us a _little_ closer?” Nero asked, knowing already the answer would be no.

“Not happening.” Natch.

“You have legs, you can walk,” she waved her wrench at him, “If not, then sit yer ass down and don’t complain, got it?”

The heat was obviously making her more irate than usual, so Nero held up his hands and backed away, returning to his previous position.

“Still not fixed?” Lady asked, trying to cool herself off by fanning the pages of magazine.

“Nope, guess we’re walking the rest of the way.”

Everyone, Nero included, groaned at the very notion of moving more than five feet in this weather.

“We shouldn’t dawdle then,” V commented, standing up and carefully pulling his vest closed, rely on V to want to make himself presentable in this heat. Hell, even Nero was clad in only a sleeveless shirt instead of his usual garb. Were they back in the shop, he’d probably be sitting around in just shorts.

“I’m going to have to pass on this one guys,” Lady said, gesturing to her armory. Nero could practically smell the oil boiling on them.

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Nero slung Red Queen over his back, “Nico could probably use the support.”

“And who better than to give it to her than her very own girlfriend?” Lady smiled and winked. At this point, Lady was probably the only person who could approach Nico without risk of injury to ask how she was doing, “I’ll make sure she stays hydrated.”

“Yeah, none of those ‘energy drinks’, that’ll just make it worse,” Nero instructed. 

“Since when did you become a health guru?” Lady teased.

Nero snorted, “You don’t need to be a health guru to have common sense.”

“We also don’t need our ride passing out.” V said as he leaned against his cane, he had resumed fanning himself with his book.

“Good point.”

“Hopefully this shouldn’t take long. We’ll be back.” Nero waved goodbye as he and V ventured out into the burning sunlight.

Sure, Red Grave City was still a mess, but it was a slowly recovering mess. People had begun to move back into the suburbs and several attempts had already been made to level out the rubble from the roots. There were still plenty of demons to clear out, and the current acting mayor was all too happy to compensate them for helping with the recovery efforts.

Nero had forgotten how humid the city was during the summer…and he was seriously beginning to regret it.

“Looks like a thunderstorm is coming.”  
  
“Huh?” Nero looked over his shoulder at V, who was gazing off into the distance. Nero followed his line of sight until he too saw the towering black clouds rolling in on the horizon. His attention quickly turned back to his boyfriend.

“You gonna be okay?”

“The store is still some ways off, Nero. I believe I’ll be fine,” V reassured, giving Nero a small smile. V wasn’t quite as skittish as he used to be during a storm but he still disliked them greatly since they reminded him of Mallet Island. He had explained this to Nero one night after the hunter had gently managed to coax him out of the closet he was hiding in.

“Just don’t go running off if it gets here before then,” Nero replied, “The city’s big enough as is.”

“I…won’t run away,” V said, somewhat stiffly.

Nero fell back to loosely drape an arm over V’s shoulders, “I know, I’m only teasing.”

He pressed a light kiss to V’s temple before pulling his arm back, it was too warm to get cuddly.

“Besides, I have nothing to be afraid of with you here,” V lightly swatted Nero with his book, “Surely you’ll protect me from the big bad monsters.”

“Says the guy with demonic pets,” Nero laughed, hopping up a steep ledge before reaching down, only for his chivalrous attempts to be ignored as V used Griffon to pull him up.

“Wow, _okay_,” Nero held up his hands, “You wanna have Shadow open doors for you too?”

V laughed, “Oh, don’t be so upset, _mon cheri_, I promise to let you help me up next time.”

Nero felt the tips of his ears burn at the nickname. Officially boyfriends for almost a year now and V _still_ knew _exactly_ what buttons to push to make Nero blubber incoherently like a fifteen year-old girl with her first crush. Of course, Nero had a few things on V too, but V was quicker and seemed to have developed a mischievous streak. Not that Nero could ever really be mad at him.

“What kind of demon are we looking for?” V asked, abruptly changing the subject.

“Wha-? Oh, some Hell troops. Small-fry stuff,” he said, getting his mind back on track.

V sighed through his nose, “How annoying.”

“I mean, couldn’t agree more,” Nero sidled up to V, “But we are getting paid for it, so…”

“Yes, yes, I’m aware. I was merely making an observation.”

The two men hiked up a hill, trying to stay in the shade best they could. If one lagged behind, the other would stop, concerned, but they both stubbornly refused to turn back or take a break. Nero _really_ want to tear off his shirt, considering by now it was soaked through. Gross.

V was still trying to cool himself off with his book, but Nero noticed that he seemed to be lagging behind more and more, but V waved him off, telling him he was okay.

When they arrived at the top of the hill, several Hell Antenoras and Hell Cainas were pacing restlessly around a crumbling fountain.

“About time,” Nero muttered, drawing his sword. Shadow materialized next to V, growling at the demons who had taken notice of their arrival by now. One of the Antenoras rushed towards them, swinging its huge cleavers. Nero and V dodged out of the way.

V had turned his attention to the Caina with Griffon while Nero cut into the Antenora that had attacked them. He barely had time to parry another swing, knocking the demon backwards. He grabbed a hold of it with his Devil Bringer, securing his arms around the demon’s mid-section and suplexed it back onto the pavement, blood splattering across the ground.

Maybe it was because of the heat but the demons stank to high heaven, Nero had to quickly toss the demon away before his gag reflex got the better of him. One of the sickle wielding Hell Cainas went sailing past, having been knocked into the air by Shadow.

“Hey! Watch where you’re throwing those things!” Nero called over to V. Griffon knocked the remaining Hell Antenora into the air and Shadow skewered it with the spiky tendrils that emerged from her back.  
  
“Perhaps you should make a more diligent attempt to clean this up,” V replied, not looking away from his book as he casually stabbed the Antenora in the back with his cane, the pieces crumbling to the ground.

_Smooth._ Nero was impressed.

He heard a strange, high-pitched sound and looked past the fountain to see a Hell Judecca dragging its bladed arms across the ground, several Hell Caina spawning in its wake.

“Tch, annoying,” Nero finished off the Caina V had tossed at him. After leaving the Caina to swarm, the Judecca vanished into its strange orange portal only to reappear close to Nero in an attempt to strike him with its blades. It teleported away before he had a chance to counterattack. The lade had sliced an ugly gash in his forearm, but ti wasn’t anything that wouldn’t patch itself up in a few minutes.

According to Nico, Hell Judecca were pretty high on the demon militia hierarchy, but powerful as they were, they were also annoyingly cowardly. As soon as you wandered too close, they’d teleport away and while you were preoccupied with the demons it had just summoned, it would summon more…which was exactly what it was doing now, this time spawning Hell Antenora instead.

That Judecca was going to have to go, and fast. If not, he and V would be overwhelmed by numbers alone. The Judecca quickly changed positions as Nero rushed to attack it, blocked by the two approaching Antenora.

He wasn’t especially worried about V, the man could easily handle a few Caina, and a stray Antenora wasn’t going to be that much of a problem either.

Nero grabbed hold of one of the Antenor’s tentacled faces and let loose a blast of electricity from Overture. The air immediately stank of ozone and heat flared unpleasantly up his arm. It was brief, but Nero knew he’d have to be careful from now on or else he’d get burned. Shit. He’d really hoped his Breakers were more heat resistant than that.

The demon let out a roar of fury and charged at him, body pulsing with some weird purplish light. Nero quickly ducked out of the way, letting the demon run into the other in its blind rage. He fumbled to grab for his gun but realized he had left it back in the van. Double shit. In his daze, he barely had a chance to parry another attack.

He saw the Judecca out of the corner of his eye, again more demons spawning around it. Apart from the Antenora he was currently fending off, all the attention seemed to be centered on V.

Nero got this unpleasant feeling in his gut because, out of the two of them, V was the more frail target. That was when Nero noticed something was off about his boyfriend. His book was open in one hand, but that hand was hanging limply at his side and he was putting more weight than usual on his cane. In the sunlight, Nero could see how ashen his complexion had become, sweat making his hair cling to his face.

His demons seemed to be responding to his current state, moving far more sluggishly than usual and they were backing closer to him instead of engaging the demons directly.

One of the Antenora blocked his view, attempting to slash at him again. Nero decided that getting showy would be a waste of item, so he just punched it in the face to get it to move.

Just as his fist connected with its flesh, he heard a sharp cry and the clatter of metal on the pavement. To his horror, he realized V had somehow lost his balance and collapsed, vulnerable to the Caina swarming around him. Griffon squawked in panic, flapping around him while Shadow struggled to keep the attackers at bay.

Nero ignoring the swinging cleaver, just barely missing getting hit, and ran over, manually removing Overture and lobbing it into the small crowd of demons. The Caina all looked, confused, at the beeping arm as it hit the ground and rolled over to them. Nero just barely had enough time to throw himself in front of V before Overture exploded, either throwing the demons aside or reducing them to charred husks that disintegrated as soon as it hit the ground.

Nero would still have a few things to clean up though…

“V!” he said, panicked. There was a gash in his side, probably from one of the Caina’s sickles. Nero figured that was what must have knocked him prone. V wasn’t terribly responsive either, Nero expected a sarcastic quip of some kind, but he just lay there, panting and groaning weakly.

“Nero, look out!” Griffon shouted. Nero whipped around, swinging Red Queen and deflecting the blades from the Judecca’s arms in an explosion of sparks. The demon was staggered, giving Nero a chance to grab onto it with his Devil Bringer, twisting the demon’s arms clean off before he beheaded it with its own weapons.

The last of the weaklings were dealt with by Shadow and Griffon, having already been crippled by the Overture explosion. The area smelled brunt and reeked of demon viscera, but after the last rattling breath of a Caina, it was silent.

Nero heard the scraping of metal and turned to see V attempting to stand up with his cane. He let out another small cry as he lost his balance again, collapsing onto his hands and knees.

“V! Dammit!” Nero rushed over and put his hand on V’s shoulder, he was shocked to discover V’s skin was incredibly clammy instead of sun-warmed as he had expected and slicked with sweat.

“I….I am alright…” V said weakly, but Nero wasn’t buying that in the slightest when he heard V’s quick, shallow breaths.

The words ‘heat stroke’ briefly flashed through Nero’s mind, but V was still, for the most part, coherent, so it was more akin to heat exhaustion. Either way, Nero needed to get V water and put him somewhere cool. Moving him probably wasn’t a great idea but no way Nero was leaving him in such a state in an area still crawling with demons. He grabbed V's cane and hooked it over his arm. 

Shadow and Griffon melted back into his tattoos as Nero gently gathered V into his arms. The man was completely limp and trembling, the latter of which Nero hadn’t noticed that initially. _Shit. _

He headed back down the hill as carefully as he could, keeping a nervous eye on V the entire time. The man would occasionally grunt whenever Nero landed on his feet a little too hard and unintentionally jostled V.

Nero heard music the closer he got to the bottom of the hill. Had Nico fixed the van? He knew there was a tiny residential area and a few businesses at the base of the tree, maybe someone there could help.

The first open place he saw looked like a garage of some sort and over the music, he could hear the scraping of metal and the banging of tools.

“Hey! I need help!” he called, making his way over to the open door. There were two battered cars suspended from the ceiling, yes, from the ceiling, like weird trophies. The banging was coming from a huge, old fashioned truck, the hood open but whoever was working on it didn’t appear to have noticed them.

“Hello?” he tried again, a little louder this time.

There was a very audible clang, followed by a string of curses and more banging before a young man, clothes blackened with grease, came stumbling out.

“Uh, hi?” Nero said sheepishly.

“What’chu want?” the young man asked, looking over Nero curiously, “Yah gotta a car that needs fixin’?”

“No my…my friend…he’s heat sick,” Nero said, glancing at V’s limp form, “I need help.”  
  
The mechanic narrowed his eyes, “What’re you doin’ all the way out here? Ain’t no one waltzing around Red Grave with those demon-y things.”

“Really? That’s what you’re asking?” Nero snapped, “C’mon dude!”

“Wait, is that a sword?”

Nero stared, “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Yer one a’ those demon hunters, aint’cha!?” the mechanic gave him a toothy grin, “No normal person goes waltzin’ round’ with a sword unless they got big things to cut down!”

“Oh, god, yeah, yeah,” Nero rolled his eyes, “Look, if you want an autograph, I’ll give you twenty. Just help me please.”

“Aw shit! I never thought I’d meet one of you crazy demon slayers!” the man crowed, “Ya’ll are the talk a’ the town! Savin’ the day n’ all that!”

Nero stared, “Are you finished?”  
  
“O-oh. Right. Sorry, what’ca need?”

Nero groaned, “My boyfriend needs help, idiot.”

“Right! Right! C’mon in!” the mechanic hopped aside, flamboyantly gesturing to the garage door. Nero just rolled his eyes again, but entered the potent smelling garage nonetheless. It wasn’t any cooler inside, but he had a giant fan directed towards the car he had been working on.

“Office is upstairs,” the mechanic said brightly as he bounded up the stairs.

The office wasn’t much, a desk, a battered tartan couch and pin ups of girls on the walls. Luckily, this room was actually air conditioned and Nero let out a sigh of relief when the cool air rushed over his skin. He gently placed V on the sofa, pausing to brush some of his hair out of his face.

“Can you get me some water and wet towels?” Nero asked.

“Oh sure! Be right back!”

Nero heard him thunder off downstairs. Sure, the guy was a weirdo, but he seemed harmless enough. Nero was just glad at this point to have gotten V out of the heat before he got sicker.

He carefully undid the laces on his vest, letting the fabric fall open to expose his weakly rising and falling chest. Nero checked his pulse, which thankfully, was steady. If it were even the slightest bit slower than normal, Nero would have run off to find a hospital immediately. His fingers idly traced down V’s throat, but he jumped a little when V grabbed his hand.

“That tickles…” V said with a weak smile.

“Hey, you okay?” Nero asked, concerned.

“I haven’t been this exhausted…in a long while…” V said, lightly stroking Nero’s hand with his fingers, “I’m…very thirsty…”

“Don’t worry, I’m working on i-.”

“Back!” the mechanic announced loudly, making both men jolt. Nero shot him an irritated glare. The young man was standing there holding a bucket and several bottles of water.

“I would ask if you know what the word ‘knock’ means, but I have a feeling you’d just argue that it’s your office, so you wouldn’t have to.”

“Huh?”  
  
“Nevermind,” Nero extended his hand, “Give me the water.”

The bucket was filled with (thankfully) clean water and several soaked clothes. Not exactly towels but close enough. He wrung out the first one and draped it across V’s forehead.

“Bottle,” he commanded, taking the one that was passed to him and unscrewing the lid.

“Drink slowly, right?” V teased, sitting up a little bit. Nero was glad to see V could at least maneuver himself a little. He took the bottle carefully, taking a few small sips. He sighed through his nose as Nero wiped the sweat off his face with the cloth he had just placed on his head.

“Hey, he gonna be okay?”

Nero glanced back at the mechanic.

“Who’s this?” V inquired.

“The name’s Ross!” the man grinned, pointing at himself with his thumb, “You a devil hunter too?”  
  
“More or less.”

“Where’s yer sword?”  
  
“Not every hunter uses a sword, Ross,” Nero laughed, placing the used cloth aside to get a newer one.

“Oh…”  
  
“You did grab my cane, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did,” Nero gestured to where his sword was laying, V’s cane resting atop it, “I’m not walking all the way back up there in this weather cause’ I was stupid enough to forget it.”

“Thank you,” V sighed, draping his arm over his stomach, settling back on the couch. He let out a startled gasp as Nero wiped the cloth down his chest.

Nero felt someone staring at him and noticed Ross hadn’t budge, still smiling and holding the water bottles.

“Do you mind?”

“Aw shit, sorry,” Ross placed the bottles on the desk after fumbling for a moment, “Uh, I’ll be downstairs if you need anythin’.”

Nero didn’t have any intentions of groping his boyfriend, it was far too hot to get hot and heavy, but he didn’t exactly need a stranger staring at them the whole time he tended to V.

V’s skin felt significantly less clammy and some of the color had returned to his cheeks. V seemed quite content as of current, Nero decided that if he wanted to nap, it would probably be best to just let him sleep. Besides, he’d have to call Nico and let her know about the situation. Hopefully this Ross guy had a phone he could borrow.

Once V’s breathing had evened out, Nero put one more cloth across his forehead (for good measure) and headed downstairs. Ross poked his head out from behind the truck.

“How’s yer friend doin’?

“He’s fine, sleeping now. Do you have a phone I could use?” Nero asked, “I need to give my partner a call.”  
  
“I thought he was yer partner?”

“He is, I’m referring to my mechanic,” Nero replied, noticing Ross’ face seemed to drop at the mention of him already having someone to service his car.

“Our AC broke on the drive here, I had to her behind. I just wanna give them a call to let her know we’re in one piece.”

“Okay, there’s one on the wall right behind cha’,” Ross pointed with his wrench.

“Thanks,” Nero rushed over and hastily dialed the number for the RV phone.  
  
“Devil May Cry,” Lady’s voice chirped over the speaker.

“Hey Lady, it’s Nero.”

“Hey! How’d the hunt go?”

“We got the demons but…V went down pretty hard. I think the heat got to him.”

He heard Lady’s breath catch, “Is he okay?”

“We’re cooling off at some garage, he gave us some water,” Nero reported, “I have to check on V’s other injuries-.”  
  
“Wha-?! Hey!”

“Where’s this damned mechanic located?” Nico demanded, seemingly having snatched the phone from Lady.

“Like, at the base of the hill where we fought the demons?” Nero blinked, “I didn’t exactly get an address.”

“Is the mechanic’s name Ross?”  
  
“Uh, yeah?”  
  
“God dammit! I knew he was crazy but I didn’t think he’d be crazy enough to set up shop here!”

“Nico, you’ve lost me.”

“We’re comin’ to get you, don’t move yer asses, yah hear!?”

“O-okay.”  
  
Nero could faintly hear Lady yelling something before the phone abruptly hung up.

“The hell?”

“You…did yah say Nico?”

Nero turned around and shouted in surprise, as Ross had materialized directly behind him within the span of a few seconds.

“Yes, for fuck’s sake, don’t sneak up on people like that.”

“Nicoletta Goldstein?”

Nero blinked, “Well, yeah. But if she ever hears you calling her by that name, she’ll rip your nuts off.”

“I knew it!” Ross took off his baseball cap and slapped it against his thigh, “How’s that crazy bitch been doin’!?”

“Still crazy,” Nero had to gently push Ross away, starting to feel crowded against the wall, “How do you know her anyway?”

“Used to own a shop near her old workplace, she was brilliant!”

If Nero didn’t know better, he’d say Ross was getting all dreamy about her. If had been crushing on her all this time, he’d be sorely disappointed once he found out Nico already had a girlfriend.

“I mean, she still _is_ brilliant,” Nero pointed out.

“Oh, I’m sure! I-I didn’t mean to insinuate anythin’.”

“Anyway…” Nero shook his head, “I hate to ask anything more, but do you have a first aid kit?”  
  
“Oh, yeah! It’s upstairs in the desk,” Ross replied, “But if yah need heavier duty stuff, the big kit is down here.”

“I’ll uh…keep that in mind,” Nero scratched his head. V’s wound, from what Nero could recall, hadn’t been that deep, more of a glancing blow thankfully. He probably wouldn’t need too much to bandage him up.

Leaving Ross to his truck, Nero returned upstairs and immediately started digging through the desk. Geeze and Nico called _him_ a slob? He was mildly horrified to discover the remains of some fast food meal at the bottom of one of the drawers. Luckily, the medical kit was nowhere near it, stuff in between several piles of what looked like invoices.

“Find what you were looking for?” V asked sleepily as Nero walked over.

“I didn’t wake you up, did I?”

“Not really, I wasn’t quite asleep. Thank you for your concern though.”

“Can you turn over? I just wanna slap a bandage on that cut of yours.”

V smiled and rolled over onto his side, Nero pushing the cloth of his vest out of the way in the process. As Nero suspected, the injury wasn’t too bad, there wasn’t a lot of blood. He took one of the remaining cloths and carefully wiped off the wound, making V hiss and squirm.

“I wasn’t paying attention,” V chided himself, “It was my own stupid mistake.”

“I think we can both get away with blaming the weather,” Nero pointed out as he fished out a tube of what looked like antibiotic. He opted against using it though, largely because he was unable to actually read what was printed on the label.

V was quiet for a moment, “Perhaps I should have told you I wasn’t feeling well.”

“Yeah, you should have.”  
  
Normally, Nero would have been annoyed, but he was too worried from earlier to really _be_ angry at this point.

“Being dense is _my_ job,” he said with a smile. V chuckled softly.

“True,” he hissed again as Nero layered some gauze and bandages over the wound.  
  
“I called Lady and Nico, they’re on their way.”  
  
“Oh? Did they fix the air conditioning?”

“I didn’t get a chance to ask…” Nero frowned, “I think Nico knows the Ross guy downstairs.”

“Is that so?” V seemed amused.

“Not sure how, but I guess we’ll find out. Hopefully he doesn’t owe her money or something.”

“Why? Oh and may I have some more water please?”

“You know how Nico is with money and people who owe her money,” Nero helped V sit up and passed him the bottle of water he had been sipping on earlier.

“You mean she intends to, at the very least, assault this man?”

“At the _very_ least,” Nero sat cross-legged on the floor next to the couch, resting his elbow against the cushion next to V. The fabric was warm and had that strangely smoky smell V had, not a bad smell, more like what incense ash smelled like. Nero had grown to love it.

“And you? Are you okay?” V asked.

“Me? I’m fine, just, you know, getting sick worrying over you like usual.”

V frowned, obviously not finding this joke amusing.  
  
“I’m tired and want to go home, but seriously, I’m okay,” Nero assured, giving his boyfriend’s knee a squeeze. V visibly relaxed a little.

“Bet you want to go home too.”

“Very,” V took a sip of his water, Nero noticed one of his hands had migrated over to the side where his injury was and he was lightly cradling it.

“Hurts?”  
  
V nodded, “It aches and stings a little, but it could be worse, I’m sure.”

“You want me to kiss it to make it feel better?” Nero teased.

“Perhaps when I’m not recovering from heat sickness, I’ll take you up on that offer,” V gave him a smug look, “And I might let you kiss other places too.”

Nero pushed himself off the ground so he could lean in and give V a quick kiss, “You’re too kind.”

The hand V had on his side reached for something but stopped, a puzzled look crossing his face.

“What’s up?”  
  
“Where’s my book?”

“Oh it’s-,” Nero looked around. Uh-oh…

“I…I must have dropped it,” he grimaced, “Or I forgot to grab it when I picked you up…”  
  
It hadn’t occurred to Nero until now that V was missing what was arguably his only worldly possession. The noise V made was a mixture of annoyance and distress, “Where is it?”

“It must be…back where we fought those demons,” Nero bit his lip.

“We can’t just leave it there! What about the storm?”

Shit, Nero had forgotten about the approaching rain. V was looking at him pleadingly and Nero, being the sucker he was, couldn’t say no.

“I’ll go find it,” he said trying not to sound totally defeated as he grabbed his sword.  
  
“Oh, Nero, thank you!”

“You owe me for this.”

“I can think of a few ways to say thank you,” Nero immediately flushed at how suggestive V’s tone was. Bastard.

“Stay here and get some rest, I’ll tell Ross to keep an eye on you,” Nero said once his brain started working again. V reclined back on the sofa, placing the now empty water bottle on the table.

He made his way downstairs and instructed Ross to make sure V was comfortable and safe…or else he’d regret it.

Ross was torn between being in awe and being downright terrified, but agreed.

The temperature hadn’t improved much when Nero stepped outside, but he could see the shadow of the aforementioned storm looming overhead. He’d have to find that book quick or else he’d probably be a dead man…mostly likely a single dead man.

A few stray Empusa had poked their heads out but Nero ignored them, besides they didn’t seem especially interested in him either way.

Nero did make a mental note to come back and do some clean-up later.

Thunder rumbled overhead just as Nero reached the fountain and he could feel light raindrops hitting his skin. He scanned the ground frantically, looking under discarded vehicles and broken statues. Where the hell did that stupid book go?!

Nero heard a familiar chittering and looked up to see an Empusa standing a few feet away…with V’s book clamped in its jaw. He froze in place, staring dumbly at the demon. Okay, these things were too stupid to read, maybe it smelled V’s demonic power on it or something…he hoped the cover wasn’t damaged…

The Empusa chittered before turning and bolting away.

“Hey! Get back here!” Nero chased after it, he’d need to catch it before it decided to burrow underground or climb into a sewer. No way V would ever forgive him if he found out an _Empusa_ of all things stole his beloved book. Using his grappling hook on the still attached socket for his Devil Breakers, the line coiling around the Empusa’s leg, yanking its weight out from under it and going down with a squeal.

Nero hopped over, landing on the demon’s back.

“Give me that!” he pried the book free of the Empusa’s jaw, relieved to discover the book was undamaged save for some slime. The rain was starting to fall harder and Nero quickly ducked under a nearby awning.

Were it not so insanely hot, Nero would have safely stuck the book in his jacket where it would have stayed dry,. Now he had a slight problem, since the Empusa was out of the way. He had no desire to soak the pages of his boyfriend’s book. Thunder rumbled overhead as the rain began to pour.

Well, not like anyone’s around to complain…Nero quickly pulled off his shirt, wrapped the book in it and stuffed it in his pocket. He had no clue how long the storm was supposed to last, but he wasn’t going to stand around waiting for it to stop.

He tried his best to hug the buildings and stay under what remained of intact awnings and rooves. The rain felt great on his skin, which normally would be a good thing…were his love life not on the line right now.

The Empusa he had seen earlier retreated away from the storm, or from Nero, he wasn’t sure. Through the rain he could see the Devil May Cry logo on the side of the van and he quickened his pace, trotting up to the open door.

“You stupid fuck!” Nero braced himself for Nico’s usual attacks, but she was directing her wrath at ross, who she had backed up against the side of the truck.

“Settin’ up shop close to freakin’ demon infested city?! Did you learn nothin’?!”

“Says the chick drivin’ around said city!”

“Welcome back, Nero,” he looked over to see V sitting on the stairs, he was looking at him appreciably….probably because Nero was conspicuously missing his shirt. He flushed.

“I-I got your book,” he pulled the bundle out of his pocket and unwrapped it, relieved to see it was dry and didn’t smell like sweat, “An Empusa tried to run off with it.”

“Did it intend to be a scholar?” V laughed as he took the book from Nero.

“Dunno, but nothing’s damaged.”

“Thank you so much,” V’s eyes sparkled, “I’ll have to repay you properly once we get back to town.”

Nero blushed furiously and spluttered, V giggled.

“God, you’re an asshole,” Nero managed to spit out once he regained his composure.

“You lose your shirt on the way back?” Lady asked as she came over, arms crossed.

“Oh, no. I was using it to keep books dry.” Nero draped the aforementioned shirt over his shoulder. He was already wet, so putting it back on was pointless.

“By the way…how uh, how does Nico know Ross?”

“Oh, believe me, I tried to get her to tell me but she was to determined to get here,” Lady looked over at the two bickering mechanics, “Hey Nico! Nero’s back!”

Nico’s head whipped around, mouth open in the middle of a sentence. Nero waved awkwardly.

“The hell did your shirt go?”

“I still have it!”

Ross tried to slip away but Nico grabbed him by the shirt.

“Oh, c’mon!”

“Are you going to explain how you two know each other know?” Lady asked.

“Ya never mentioned me?!” Ross cried.

“Ross’ dad here owned a garage down the street when I was a kid, we hung out a lot,” Nico replied “I decided to follow my passion for weaponry, Rossy here got upset cause’ I didn’t want to work on cars.”

“But…you do work on cars…” Nero commented dumbly.

“She learned all that stuff from my pa!” Ross chimed in.

“And he was upset cause’ I dumped im’.”

“Wait, wait, you two were dating?” Lady asked, trying to hide her laughter.

“Were, and I was like, seventeen,” Nico said shortly, “But this idiot was prolly more interested in fuckin’ his beloved truck than me.”  
  
“I ain’t into that autoerotic crap!”

“Anyone else uncomfortable, because I’m uncomfortable,” Lady cringed. V appeared to just be observing the whole situation with both amusement and bewilderment.

“Is the AC fixed?” Nero asked, now really wanting to just go home.

“Huh? Oh yeah, it works fine,” Nico said with a dismissive hand wave. Nero looked over at Lady for confirmation, the huntress gave him an affirmative nod.

“Works fine and the van’s already nice and cool.”

“I think…we’ll just go hang out there for a while,” Nero offered V his hand, which the man gladly took. V was a little unsteady on his feet but kept his balance with his cane.

He mouthed ‘thanks’ at Lady before guiding V over to the van and climbing inside.

“Feeling any better?” Nero asked, relieved to find water in Nico’s minifridge, not her usual stash of energy drinks and cigarettes.

“Somewhat. I fancy I’ll feel much better tomorrow,” V smiled thankfully as Nero passed him a bottle.

“I guess my thank you reward is going to have to wait then?”

V chuckled, “Tonight, yes. I fear we may get back too late for me to buy you dinner.”

Nero stared blankly off into space, half-way through twisting the lid off his own bottle.

“Nero?”  
  
“What? Huh? Oh…oh, yeah, sure…”

V tilted his head, “What did you think I was referring to? It is, after all, far too hot to perform fellatio on _anyone_ right now.”

Nero choked on his water.

**Author's Note:**

> *Scooter voice* "You're a devil hunter, aren't you? That's like a unicorn."


End file.
